Explain to me: Who is a Koala Expert?: Part-2
It's funny how both society and koala habitat is defragmented! They go hand in hand! From a
The Wollondilly Shire Council is currently mapping and researching areas with known koala populations in the region, as well as throughout the western part of the Sydney catchment area near the Warragamba Dam. I recently wrote an article on a young male koala who had found his way into the community of Silverdale along the catchment area on Marsh road. He had reached his limit, finding himself on the edge of urban development, meeting humans for the first time. I could assess the reasons for this sighting, and the situation he was in. He was the only sighting on the south-west of the Penrith region. On top of this, there has been an increase of koala sightings more from the north-west of Penrith around
This increase in sightings from the north-west would be koalas coming south from Hawkesbury region and along Putty Putty Road, as there is a well-known koala habitat in the Kurrajong region further north of Richmond.
There has even been a koala sighting in the national parks of West Pennant Hills area, however, it is likely that this koala is from the local koala park, as they allow their koalas to jump in and out of their enclosures, as management at Pennant Hills would deny that any of their koalas escape the main outer fencing. I do know, however, that management at Pennant Hills Koala Park allow their koalas to escape from their enclosures. In one regard, this is great for the koalas who have extra freedom at this park, however, the downside is that they become vulnerable to tourists, who can pick them up and handle them a bit too much. In some cases, tourists
This young koala spotted in Silverdale found himself in a different world compared to the one he came from. However, since my first article, this little guy has walked into public controversy, stumbling onto a site set for housing development. Now, a young council-worker was just as excited as the community of Silverdale about this sighting and placed this news on the Wollondilly council Facebook page. The article was only there for a day or so – generating discussion – before the higher council members asked for the post to be removed.
The young koala had apparently hit a nerve with the council, who now wanted to place a radio on the young male koala and track his movements. Why? This way, the council can spin the story for good and bad reasons, for an inexperienced organization such as the council, it has too much latitude to control the situation and ensure the young koala doesn't move around in an area that is not to their liking! They will be able to manipulate any information regarding the koala and remove him from an area of his choosing, without any professional advice and without anyone having any knowledge of what they are doing. They will just randomly place him into a new area of their choosing, based on their limited knowledge. I'm sure they will play the victim-game; when someone - like myself - questions their behaviour, asking if it is in the best interest of this young koala to have wires accompany them, they think this will shield themselves from blame by using so-called 'experts' as a pseudo-defence. When in fact it's the blind leading the blind.
What councils and general politicians don't understand is that such a move would increase the stress levels of the koala, jeopardizing its dietary and environmental routine and severely upset the mental health of the koala, who will be confused and disoriented. This will put the koala at risk of vehicular collision and/or
After a local sighting had occurred on the afternoon of Wednesday 28th of March in Silverdale, I rang the local community leader who simply wanted a sign for motorists to slow down and some support from her local council member. However, the council appeared with wires in their hand to notify
Then, I was contacted by Wollondilly Council who received my number from the local community leader watching over this young koala. Explaining to me their work on the west-side of Warragamba Dam. The council was referring to their staff at Wollondilly council as having koala experts; simply because they employed an ecologist, and they have an environment officer who had taken it upon themselves to manage the koala situation. While this is great, there is a problem with this koala: as the council explain to me that they are experts, which is rather stretching the truth when their real title at the council and their qualifications suggest otherwise. The council themselves remain unqualified to refer to themselves in this way and to make key koala-related decisions.
The council is sending ecologists in to establish data on koala populations, which is instrumental in obtaining further information on koalas in this area. However, once numbers have been established, the next phase of the operation should be carried out with the support of koala behavioural specialists from the captive management sector, using tried and tested captive management practices which encompass behavioural science, motivational science and welfare and ethics.
I would have thought that the main job of ecologists and the Wollondilly Council environmental office, would be more focus on removing noxious weeds, improving the water management and introducing more programs that promote land care, as well as running events for residents to take part in river-cleaning and tree planting. This should be considered especially after the AUDIT of the Sydney drinking-water catchment in 2016, which was only two years ago. What did they fix? AND now they have time playing both the victim and hero in the local paper, 'The District Reporter" where they position themselves as victims of the State Government's decision to release further land in the Wilton area. While at the same time, they manage to play the hero to the local community where the local paper mentions that their environmental officer is passionate about koalas. However, being passionate can be interpreted as someone being emotionally driven, without using logic. The local paper on the 11th of May 2018, TDR reports that "the council environmental officials said the population of both Campbelltown and Wollondilly were the only disease-free colonies in NSW".
Well! I can tell you, that this statement - if he said it - is incorrect. He may be referring to Pro Rob Close research, but that was years ago and was mentioned only for the Campbelltown koalas as these koalas are genetic different to Wollondilly koalas who are more closely related to the koalas further north in the Blue Mountains areas. To say the Campbelltown koala are free from disease today is to say that they are intergalactic Space koalas! To be free from any disease from anywhere currently is a miracle! This claim ("Campbelltown and Wollondilly are the only disease-free colonies in NSW)", that type of information has a use-by date. Nothing stays like that forever, its' simple science that everything ages; koalas die for a variety of reasons, which includes healthier cells breaking-down, it's basic science.
I simply can't believe an environmental officer would make such claims! I understand that Wollondilly council and all residents have their hearts in the right place, but this doesn't mean they understand the true nature of this logistical nightmare. They do not understand why this is happening right now or have any strategies for prevention to reduce death on our roads, other than the talk about setting up fences, which again appears to be a knee-jerk response. (Like placing shark nets along the coastline). It's a short-term solution, rather a well-planned, long-term straggly, back-up by constant monitoring in place.
Where's the consideration for the behavioural science behind these actions? The people that are commenting in the local papers on this issue have a very limited knowledge of these issues. They also have no plan for constant monitoring and no way of predicting or understanding how the koala will behave when faced with new short-term infrastructure or fencing.
If the council combines the knowledge and expertise of various ecologists with the knowledge and expertise from the captive management sector, they could develop innovative solutions that draw on the best ideas from both the conservation and captive sectors.
Due to the lack of knowledge and resources publicly available on best koala management practices, councils (such as Wollondilly) are at risk of making ill-informed, impulsive decisions that do not utilize best practices and fail to develop infrastructure that is in the best interest of both the koala as well as humans.
There is also a growing problem in the town of Picton, in the Macarthur region of New South Wales. There has been an alarming increase in road kill along Picton road. And while the council has consulted with various council workers and the environmental departments, they have failed to confer with people who have a thorough understanding of koalas and who have worked extensively with them. Without a long-term strategy and consultation with experienced koala specialists, then road kill numbers will only continue to increase.
Sadly, Wollondilly Shire will continue to have their efforts thwarted if they persevere on their current path. Koalas are predictable, and their behaviour can be modified so that they gradually learn to avoid roads and traffic. With careful planning, design and infrastructure, and under the guidance of koala specialists with hands-on experience, koalas can be managed and encouraged to travel safely under and over structures that resemble a children's crossing. Over time, people and koalas can adapt to this new framework in-conjunction with
mapping and approximate numbers are established, there should be an opportunity for the captive sector to contribute their skills to the overall management of this project.
The next article; discusses the tens of thousands of E